Willem Buiter Commentary:

Reflections, Rants, Raves and Ruminations

  1. "The Time for Interest-Bearing Central Bank Digital Currency is Now." Jackson Hole Economics, 10 February 2025. With Ebrahim Rahbari.

  2. "The Positive Case for Negative Rates." Project Syndicate, 5 February 2025. With Ebrahim Rahbari.

  3. "Why Have Inflation Forecasts Been So Wrong?" Project Syndicate, 1 April 2024. With Ebrahim Rahbari.

  4. "Central Banks Need to Be Honest About Their Losses." Project Syndicate, 5 March 2024.

  5. "The ECB Should Change Three Bad Habits." Project Syndicate, 17 January 2024. With Ebrahim Rahbari.

  6. "How Fiscal is the Fed?" Jackson Hole Economics, 8 January 2024.

  7. "A Farewell to Cash." Project Syndicate, 11 December 2023.

  8. "The Widespread Failure of Central Banks to Control Inflation." Economic Affairs 43 (2023): 2–31. First published 15 March 2023.

  9. "Is the Fed's Negative Capital a Problem?" Project Syndicate, 28 September 2023.

  10. "Cashing Out: The Case for Central Bank Digital Currencies." Huawei, 15 September 2023.

  11. "Public Accounting for Public Accountability." Project Syndicate, 31 August 2023.

  12. "Why U.S. Taxes Must Increase." Project Syndicate, 28 June 2023.

  13. "The Overwhelming Case for CBDCs." Project Syndicate, 18 April 2023."

  14. "Expert Says not to Blame Fed for Bank Failures. Hear Why." CNN interview, 28 March 2023.

  15. "Price Stability vs. Financial Stabililty?" Project Syndicate, 20 March 2023.

  16. "Eliminate the Debt Ceiling." Project Syndicate, 31 January 2023.

  17. "Secular Stagnation, Not Secular Stagflation." Project Syndicate, 6 January 2023.

  18. "Too Much Gloom and Doom?" Project Syndicate, 12 December 2022.

  19. "FedSpeak - Buiter Sees UK Rates As High As 6%." Podcast. MNI, 1 November 2022.

  20. "The Bank of England’s Imperfect Intervention." Project Syndicate, 22 October 2022, with Anne C. Sibert.

  21. "It’s Not the Bank of England’s Job to Help Ailing Energy Companies." Financial Times, 17 October 2022, with Anne C. Sibert.

  22. "The Bank of England’s Imperfect Intervention."Project Syndicate, 22 October 2022, with Anne C. Sibert.

  23. "It’s Not the Bank of England’s Job to Help Ailing Energy Companies." Financial Times, 17 October 2022, with Anne C. Sibert.

  24. "Markets Don’t Believe Liz Truss’s Numbers. They’re Right Not To." Barrons, 26 September 2022. With Anne C. Sibert.

  25. "Is Europe Heading for Another Crisis?" Project Syndicate, 8 September 2022.

  26. “E-Money Tokens, Tokenised Money-Market shares, and Tokenised Bank Deposits.” VoxEU, 18 August 2022. With Anne C. Sibert and Nicolaes Tollenaar.

  27. "The Future of Stablecoins is Commercial Bank Money." Markets Insight section. Financial Times, 2 August 2022. With Anne C. Sibert and Nicolaes Tollenaar.

  28. "Will Europe’s New TPI Be an ATM?" Project Syndicate, 22 July 2022.

  29. "Central Banks Are Still Far Behind the Inflation Curve." Project Syndicate, 9 June 2022. With Anne C. Sibert.

  30. "Fiscal Capture at the ECB." Project Syndicate, 16 May 2022.

  31. Interview in Ellhauge, Michael Calvo Elhauge. "The New Cold War – Geopolitical Macroeconomic Impact of the Ukrainian Crisis." Impact Wealth, 16 May 2022.

  32. "Pricing Existential Risk." Project Syndicate, 16 March 2022.

  33. "Markets Are in Denial About Nuclear Risk." Project Syndicate, 8 March 2022.

  34. "Investing in Water Stewardship." GreenMoney (March 2022). With Thomas Schumann.

  35. "Towards an Enhance Lender of Last Resort and Market Maker of Last Resort." video, Faculti, 1 March 2022.

  36. "The Case Against Fed Gradualism." Project Syndicate, 22 February 2022.

  37. "An Argentinian Haircut for the IMF." Project Syndicate, 16 February 2022.

  38. "Outlaw Cryptocurrencies Now," Project Syndicate, 8 February 2022.

  39. "The Trouble with Argentina." Project Syndicate, 20 January 2022. With Anne C. Sibert.

  40. "Public Debate on the Review of the EU Economic Governance." 21 December 2021.

  41. "Water As an Asset Class Is Here." Project Syndicate, 16 December 2021.

  42. "The Case Against Green Central Banking." Project Syndicate, 26 November 2021.

  43. "The Fed Must Abandon Average Inflation Targeting." Financial Times, 14 November 2021.

  44. "Gas Price Caps Would be a Disaster for the Ukrainian Economy." Ukraine Alert. Atlantic Council, 28 October 2021.

  45. "Central Banks and the Looming Financial Reckoning." Project Syndicate, 4 October 2021.

  46. "Towards an Enhanced Lender of Last Resort and a Market Maker of Last Resort." Paper presented at the International Finance and Banking Society conference, Oxford University, 13 September 2021.

  47. "How Cheap Electricity is a Burden on Ukraine's Economy." Kyiv Post, 31 August 2021.

  48. "Is the U.S. Economy Running Out of Slack." Project Syndicate, 28 July 2021.

  49. "Ukraine's Choice: Corruption or Growth." Atlantic Council, 19 June 2021.

  50. "Biden's Fuzzy Tax Math." Project Syndicate, 29 April 2021, with Anne Sibert.

  51. "Is Bitcoin Good for Business?" Project Syndicate, 29 March 2021.

  52. "Why Bitcoin & Crypto Is Not The Future." Interview. Going Underground on RT, 20 February 2021.

  53. "Schrödinger’s Bitcoin." Project Syndicate, 12 February 2021.

  54. "The Fed Must Step Up Again." Project Syndicate, 26 January 2021.

  55. "Restructuring the Debt-Restructuring Process." Project Syndicate, 24 November 2020, with Anne Sibert.

  56. "Addressing the Pricing Methodology: Ukraine Can’t Afford to Miss This Chance." Energy Voice, 11 November 2020.

  57. "The Market’s Best of All Possible Worlds." Project Syndicate, 6 November 2020. With Anne Sibert.

  58. "Why Punish Corporations for Their Employees’ Crimes?" Project Syndicate, 3 November 2020. With Anne Sibert.

  59. "The Eurosystem: An Accident Waiting to Happen." Project Syndicate, 1 October 2020.

  60. "Willem H. Buiter Says More." Interview. Project Syndicate, 22 September 2020.

  61. "The Fed's Dangerous New Strategy." Project Syndicate, 31 August 2020.

  62. "Recovering from the EU's Recovery Fund." Project Syndicate, 5 August 2020.

  63. "Three Strikes Against the Fed." Vox, 3 July 2020.

  64. "A Stronger Recovery Through Better Accounting." Project Syndicate, 26 June 2020. With Ian Ball and Dag Detter.

  65. "Paying for the COVID-19 Pandemic Will Be Painful," Financial Times, 15 May 2020.

  66. "Ukraine's Biggest Challenges Are Political." Kyiv Post, 12 May 2020.

  67. "Germany’s Judges Declare War on the ECB." Project Syndicate, 5 May 2020.

  68. "The Problem with MMT." Project Syndicate, 4 May 2020.

  69. "Pandemic Socialism." Project Syndicate, 9 April 2020.

  70. "To Fight the COVID Pandemic, Policymakers Must Move Fast and Break Taboos." Vox, 6 April 2020. With Sony Kapur.

  71. "The Helicopters Are Coming." Project Syndicate, 26 March 2020.

  72. "When 'Whatever it Takes' Isn't Enough." Project Syndicate, 17 March 2020.

  73. "Piketty's Latest Charge."Project Syndicate, 13 March 2020.

  74. "The Wealth and Health of Nations." Project Syndicate, 10 March 2020.

  75. "The New Normal Should Be Cashless." Project Syndicate, 25 February 2020.

  76. "Is Climate Change Solidarity Impossible?" Project Syndicate, 10 February 2020.

  77. "Past Interest Rates and Future Growth. Project Syndicate, 13 January 2020.

  78. "When Central Banks Go Green." Project Syndicate, 2 January 2020.

  79. "Making the Best of a Bad Brexit." Project Syndicate, 27 December 2019.

  80. "Financial Stability Should be Central Banking's Prime Objective." Project Syndicate, 11 December 2019.

  81. "The Federal Reserve Will Have to be Creative in the Next Recession. Its Room for Manoeuvre on Conventional Monetary Policy is Small." Financial Times, Opinion, 8 December 2019.

  82. "The US Corporate Tax Cut Debate." With Anne C. Sibert. VoxEU, 30 May 2018.

  83. "An Infrastructure Plan That Would Actually Work." With Dag Detter. Project Syndicate, 2 April 2018.

  84. "Exchange Rate Implications of Border Tax Adjustment Neutrality." VoxEU, 22 March 2017.

  85. "Islamic Solution for Household Debt." Article by Jonathan Shapiro based on an interview with me. Australian Financial Review, 15 June 2016.

  86. "Towards the Brave New World of Negative Interest Rates and a Cashless Society." Nikkei Asian Review, 30 March 2016.

  87. The Implications of Brexit for the Rest of the EU." With Ebrahim Rahbari and Christian Schulz. VoxEU, 2 March 2016.

  88. "There is a Way Past the Insanity Over Greece." With Ebrahim Rahbari. Financial Times, Opinion, 21 June 2015.

  89. "Secular Stagnation: The Time for One-Armed Policy is Over." With Ebrahim Rahbari and Joe Seydl. VoxEU, 5 June 2015.

  90. "Could Europe Recognize a Sensible Syriza?" With Ebrahim Rahbari. Times, Comment, 11 February 2015.

  91. "Four Rescue Measures for Stagnant Eurozone." Financial Times, Markets Insight, 30 October 2014. See also here.

  92. "Globalisation Under Threat, Warns Citi Economist." Bangkok Post Business, 29 September 2014. See also here.

  93. "The Fed's Bad Manners Risk Offending Foreigners." (Not my title!) Financial Times, Opinion, 4 February 2014.

  94. "Why Fiscal Sustainability Matters." VoxEU, 10 January 2014.

  95. "Secular Stagnation Risk for EU and Japan." Financial Times, Markets Insight, 23 September 2013. Should have been EA (euro area), not EU, but editors ....

  96. "Eurozone Crisis Demands Swift Debt Restructuring." Financial Times, Markets Insight, 8 May 2013.

  97. "Euro Faces Exit of the Strong." (bad title, not mine!) Financial Times, Markets Insight, 15 October 2012.

  98. "Race to Save Euro Will Follow 'Grexit'." Financial Times, Markets Insight, 21 June 2012.

  99. "Greece Far From Safe Even After Debt swap." With Ebrahim Rahbari. Financial Times, 13/14 February 2012.

  100. "The Terrible Consequences of a Eurozone Collapse." Financial Times, 7 December 2011.

  101. "EFSF Needs Bigger Bazooka to Maximise its Firepower." Financial Times, 31 October 2011.

  102. "Blundering Towards a 'You Break it You Own It' Europe." Financial Times, 1 August 2011.

  103. "The 'Strong Dollar' Policy of the US: Alice-in-Wonderland Semantics vs. Economic Reality." VoxEU, 28 June 2011. With Ebrahim Rahbari.

  104. "Three Steps to Survival for Euro Zone." Wall Street Journal Europe, Agenda, 10 Dec. 2010.

    105.
  105. "The Unfortunate Uselessness of Most ’State of the Art’ Academic Monetary Economics." VoxEU, 6 March 2009. Also available here.

  106. "The Collapse of Iceland's banks: The Predictable End of a Non-Viable Business Model." VoxEU, 30 October 2008. With Anne C. Sibert.

  107. "The Paulson Plan: A Useful First Step but Nowhere Near Enough." VoxEU, 25 September 2008.

  108. "The Dangerous Protectionism of Barack Obama." VoxEU, 26 February 2008. With Anne C. Sibert.

  109. "MPC Past Present and Future; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." Presentation prepared for the Bank of England's Graduate Induction Programme, 11 October 2007.

  110. "What Should the Authorities Have Done?" Presentation prepared for the Financial Crisis Conference. London Financial Regulation Seminar, 1 October 2007.

  111. "Bail-Out That Will Damage Bank's Credibility." With Anne C. Sibert. Financial Times. Comment. Comments & Analysis page, 16 September 2007.

  112. "Three Steps to Calm the Storm." With Anne C. Sibert. Financial Times. Comment. Comments & Analysis page, 6 September 2007.

  113. "Put the NHS Out of Its Misery and Allow Competition." With Anne C. Sibert. Comment. Daily Telegraph. Business News, 3 September 2007.

  114. "How to Starve the Terrorists of Funds: Legalise All Drugs." Financial Times. Comment. Comments & Analysis page, 7 August 2007.

  115. "The Folly of the Fed or: Why is the Fed So Hardcore?" In Maverecon, my Financial Times blog, which can be found here, 30 June 2007.

  116. "A New Chance to Raise Gilt Issuance." Financial Times. Leaders & Letters page, 26 June 2007. With Ros Altmann and Jon Moynihan.

  117. ""EU Governments Are Stepping Off the Streetcar." Financial Times. Leaders & Letters page, 11 June 2007.

  118. "A European Constitution Must Be Approved by Referendum." Financial Times. Leaders & Letters page, 5 June 2007.

  119. "Global Imbalances." Powerpoint presentation to introduce a debate on global imbalances. Award to Premio German Bernacer de Economia Monetaria" for the best European Monetary Economist under 40 award to Hélène Rey. Madrid, Bank of Spain, 21 May 2007.

  120. "The Browning of Chindia." Mint, daily business newspaper published by India's HT Media Ltd in association with The Wall Street Journal,in New Delhi and Mumbai. Views, 12 April 2007.

  121. "Too Many Cheers for Chindia." Mint. Views, 11 April 2007.

  122. "IMF Made Political Recommendations Outside its Remit." Financial Times. Leaders & Letters page, 12 March 2007.

  123. "High Degree of ECB Independence in Securities Sector is Undesirable." Financial Times. Leaders & Letters page, 19 January 2007.

  124. "Let Us Debate Whether the UK Can be Financed With Taxes that Do not Exceed 33 Per Cent of GDP." Financial Times. Leaders & Letters page, 1 November 2006. With Anne C. Sibert.

  125. "A Wave of Unilateral 'Euro-isations' Would Confound the EU's Mean-Spirited Legal Nitpickers." Comment on Georgi Angelo. "How to Gate-Crash the Eurozone." Europe's World (Autumn 2006). With Anne C. Sibert.

  126. "UK Facing Three-Pronged Assault on its Labour market Flexibility." Financial Times. Leaders & Letters page, 28 Sept. 2006.

  127. "Lithuania Exclusion From Eurozone Violates Spirit of the Entry Treaty." Financial Times. Leaders & Letters page, 19 May 2006. With Anne Sibert.

  128. "Europe Must Relax its Inflation Test for Euro Entrants." Financial Times. Comment & Analysis/Comment page, May 4, 2006. With Anne C. Sibert.

  129. "Minimum Wage Does not Correct a Distortion; It Is a Distortion." Financial Times. Leaders & Letters page, 28 March 2006.

  130. "New MPC Member Must be Professional Economist." Financial Times. Leaders & Letters page, 25/26 February 2006.

  131. "Official Response to Low Yields is Like Hunting Tigers With Pea-Shooter." Financial Times. Leaders & Letters page, 26 January 2006.

  132. "Heads I Win, Tails I Win' Way to Seek Higher Yields." Financial Times. Leaders & Letters page, 16 January 2006.

  133. "The OECD's Response to Soaring Oil Prices Must be Heavily Qualified With Regard to the Output Gap." (Not my title!), Financial Times. Leaders & Letters page, 9 September 2005.

  134. "The UK and the Euro." paper by Chris Mulhearn and Howard R. Vane in The World Economy, vol. 28 (February 2005): 243–58. The article draws on and quotes from interviews with Patrick Minford and myself.

  135. "Right to Free Inquiry trampled." Financial Times. Leaders & Letters page, 19/30 March 2005.

  136. "The Failure of Cancun." Financial Times Leaders and Letters, 16 Sept. 2003, with slight edits, under the heading "If anything is to to rescued from Cancún, politics must take precedence over economics". Note: not my heading. It doesn't make sense to me either.

  137. "Obituary of Professor James Tobin." The Independent, 14 March 2002.